


Across the Stars

by stephanericher



Series: KnB Star Wars AU [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 05:04:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4208979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s especially hard to think of singularity within the force, a lack of importance on the body, when his body responds like a finely-tuned instrument to Tatsuya’s touch, the skin of his arm yielding to the pads of Tatsuya’s fingertips like keys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Across the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> old republic era
> 
> as far as i know hoth was not affiliated with the old republic (star wars wiki doesn't explicitly say it was or it wasn't) but if it was please correct me!
> 
> for the songs challenge day 4, favorite song ("Across the Stars" from episode 2) 
> 
> ALSO i realllly don't feel comfortable writing 'kriff' and 'nerf herder' and etc so uh. earth swears are present. 
> 
> (and i'm kind of unhappy with one of the transitions, if you can catch it and offer a solution i'd appreciate it)

Leave it to Tatsuya to pick one of the seediest mob-controlled bars in Mos Eisley as a meeting place—considering the work he’s doing out here, it’s appropriate for him but it always puts Taiga ill at ease the way the place is rolling with force turbulence. It’s probably part of why he picked it, all things considered; he likes keeping Taiga on his toes and it’s easier for him to conceal his own presence, the churning below his surface that he could perhaps hide from a force-user who doesn’t know him the way Taiga does, who doesn’t feel his presence the way Taiga does like a sandstorm covering him in his fine sun-bleached grains of self, reaching out unconsciously (he doesn’t seem to know he does it, though for all he’s been proclaimed too weak in the force he is impossibly loud and unmissable like this).

“You’re not on the list,” the Twi’lek bouncer says in a raspy voice, peering down into Taiga’s face suspiciously.

“I’m supposed to be here,” says Taiga, waving a hand.

“You’re supposed to be here,” the bouncer echoes, gesturing with one lekku toward the door.

As soon as he gets in he can feel Tatsuya, the familiar subsurface ripples as he reaches out past the sparking of patrons engaged in trade talk and the steady humming motors of the bartenders. He can feel Tatsuya somewhere, the bits of his force signature hovering in the air—he’s seen Taiga. It’s only a matter of time; the presence gathers itself around him and then—

“You never know what kind of shady characters you’ll run into in these parts.”

Taiga whirls around and there he is, hair falling over one eye and smile impossible to hide on either his face or his force presence (it’s practically vibrating with radiance like a third sun and holy shit Taiga is not prepared for this) and Taiga wraps him in his arms, squeezes him close to his chest and he doesn’t care if they’re making a scene because what can the mobsters say about this? He inhales Tatsuya’s scent, the smell of the desert and of home even more present in him than usual because they’re here now, mixed with salt and brine and instant caf and generic space soap and Taiga buries his nose deeper into Tatsuya’s neck because it’s been far, far too long.

Taiga’s own force presence is wrapping its way around Tatsuya’s, at least where Tatsuya’s isn’t already wrapped around his.

“I missed you so much,” Taiga whispers, pulling back and cupping Tatsuya’s chin in his hand before leaning in and kissing his mouth, softly and without opening his lips (even if no one here cares he still doesn’t want to get too carried away and he’s still a jedi; he still needs to be mindful of the situation).

Tatsuya’s fingers tighten around Taiga’s robes and his other hand falls to catch Taiga’s in it; his skin is warm and impossibly soft for conditions like these—not that he’s probably been on this planet that long. Still, it’s hard to calculate and speculate about these things when Tatsuya’s head is tilted up toward his and he’s smiling and he looks like he’s going to drag Taiga off somewhere more private and Taiga’s definitely not going to argue with that

* * *

 

“Took you a while to get here,” says Tatsuya through a yawn, nuzzling Taiga’s bare shoulder again. “I’ve had to extend my visit longer than I’d planned.”

“It’s hard to get clearance to go beyond Republic space,” says Taiga.

His hand finds the small of Tatsuya’s back under the blanket, and Tatsuya sighs and arches into his touch before speaking again.

“Even in times of relative peace?”

“Especially in times of relative peace. You can’t pretend there’s new intel on some random place that may or may not be part of the opposition’s plans.”

“You can’t just visit home?”

Taiga grins, squeezing Tatsuya’s hand. “That’s how it ended up. I pretended to sense a disturbance in the force here, but the masters couldn’t sense it, so they said maybe I was sensing phantom disturbances because I missed the place, and a trip back could help put my mind at ease.”

“Alex, too?”

Alex had known, but Alex knows everything about the two of them and despite any misgivings she may have and any duty of hers to uphold the Jedi Code she’s offered her unconditional support. And of course she’d figured out his real intentions right away, but she’d let it slide.

“She told me to send you her best and give you a hug.”

Tatsuya hums. “Send her the same from me. I wish we could see each other soon.”

“Come back into Republic space,” Taiga says.

“Too much government surveillance,” says Tatsuya.

He snuggles closer, effectively ending the conversation, and Taiga kisses the top of his head before sleep catches hold of him with its Gungan-like tongue.

* * *

 

Tatsuya only has a few days more here at most, until he has to leave this job and go onto the next, pick up low-grade sand a few towns over for exports to Hoth for madman criminals who want the paved roads to their ice palaces cleared of snow. If they don’t want snow in the way they could just fucking move here—but that wouldn’t solve anything; Tatsuya would still have another job in another system and Taiga wouldn’t be able to travel with him, only travel away like a planet knocked and spun out of orbiting its sun and sent hurtling across the galaxy until some other system recaptures it, far away. Both of them are always on the move; they chose these lifestyles that afford them very little luxury in terms of free time and are constrained to opposite ends of the galaxy.

Taiga sighs. There’s no use in worrying over things that cannot be fixed by anything but time. At least, that’s what he’s heard from his instructors at the temple and he has no reason to disbelieve them in that regard. In these situations, it’s best to sit and try to calm one’s self.

He’s deep into meditation when Tatsuya sits beside him, but not deep enough for his presence to go unnoticed—not that Taiga can stay calm enough to get that deep very often. It’s almost paradoxical, what the jedi look for, quick wits and reflexes in battle but a type of calmness and focus outside of that setting that Taiga still hasn’t fully grasped. It’s especially hard to think of singularity within the force, a lack of importance on the body, when his body responds like a finely-tuned instrument to Tatsuya’s touch, the skin of his arm yielding to the pads of Tatsuya’s fingertips like keys.

* * *

A few days pass too quickly, and Taiga wishes the time they had was more like the stone houses here, chipped away so slowly by the sands of time that it seems to never diminish, for even if their time was infinite, more infinite than the galaxy, every second would be just as precious and valuable as it is now that there are so few. He holds Tatsuya’s hand for a few moments to long, when Tatsuya really should be going, but Tatsuya doesn’t try to peel it off. Waves of turmoil are nearly breaking on the surface of his force presence, and he squeezes Taiga’s hand an extra time.

“May the force be with you,” Taiga murmurs.

Tatsuya whispers the reciprocal phrase, and then he turns abruptly and heads for the speeder—he’s walking like he’s just another smuggler here on another round of dirty business and he can’t wait to leave. And Taiga pulls up his hood and walks the opposite way, a simple out-of-planet traveler headed for the marketplace.


End file.
